Inglorious Basterds (Tarantino, 2009)

Last updated on: July 26, 2014 at 8:28 pm By Anders Bergstrom

You should know the resulting film is one where the titular Basterds are not the focus, where two-thirds of the film is subtitled French and German, and where nearly all the scant action scenes already appeared in the trailers. But misleading trailers aside, the resulting film left me stunned. This movie is going to make some people angry and shocked, but Tarantino succeeds in making the movie I never imagined, but maybe actually always wanted. It's an audacious, dizzying, beautiful cinematic fever dream. Read more

Dis-Enchanted: Female Power and Authority in Ella Enchanted and Kill Bill:Volume 2

Last updated on: November 10, 2014 at 8:56 pm By Kenneth R. Morefield

Originally delivered as an address to the Midwest Conference on Language, Literature and Media (MCLLM) in DeKalb, Illinois. 2 April 2005. Read more

Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Last updated on: November 10, 2014 at 8:59 pm By Kenneth R. Morefield

The main reason I'm posting about the show, however, is that noted scholar and Buffy enthusiast Elizabeth Rambo has begun a blog project rewatching the show and blogging individual episodes at The Painful Nowning Process. Dr. Rambo is one of the co-editors of Buffy Goes Dark, and she brings a broad foundation of literary knowledge and cultural insight into her writing. If you've ever wanted to try out the show or think more deeply about quality television, consider this a master class with an individual tutor and--here's the best part--no tuition! Read more

Julie & Julia (Ephron, 2009)

Last updated on: November 10, 2014 at 9:01 pm By Kenneth R. Morefield

In fact, there may be the tiniest hint of feminine fantasy in the film's stew of supportive masculinity--made all the more suspect by the knowledge that Powell's second memoir (forthcoming) chronicles her extra-marital affair. Read more

John Huston

Last updated on: July 26, 2014 at 8:27 pm By Kenneth R. Morefield

Huston said of directing: "[...] I try to direct as little as possible. The more one directs, the more there is a tendency to monotony. If one is telling each person what to do, one ends up with a host of little replicas of oneself" (260). Read more

Forgiving Dr. Mengele (Hercules, 2006)

Last updated on: June 20, 2015 at 8:35 pm By Kenneth R. Morefield

The act of reviewing carries with it a strain of judgment, and when reviewing a documentary it is hard not to feel as though one is judging the subject and not just the artists' presentation of him or her. Which of us would dare judge Eva Moses Kor? Read more

Waltz With Bashir (Folman, 2008)

Last updated on: September 16, 2014 at 9:54 pm By Kenneth R. Morefield

Several times while watching Waltz With Bashir I thought about the notion that by the measure we judge we shall be weighed, and I don't doubt that contributed to my dissatisfaction with the film. Read more

The Informer (Ford, 1935)

Last updated on: September 16, 2014 at 9:52 pm By Kenneth R. Morefield

In an interview republished in the anthology Interviews With Film Directors, Jean Mitry cites John Ford's desire to balance innovation and aesthetics with populist appeal. "Directing is craft," Ford is quoted as saying, "If a director's films do not make money, he cannot expect to retain the confidence and good will of the men who put up the wherewithal" (195). Read more

Battleship Potemkin (Eisenstein, 1925)

Last updated on: September 16, 2014 at 9:50 pm By Kenneth R. Morefield

One problem, of course, with a great books (or great films) curriculum is that we get students to equate "classic" with dull, uninteresting, or obsolete. Read more

Bigger Than Life (Ray, 1956)

Last updated on: September 16, 2014 at 9:48 pm By Kenneth R. Morefield

The moment that caught my attention in Nicholas Ray's 1956 melodrama Bigger Than Life is when Ed Avery (James Mason) walks in on his son watching television. At first he appears to have a slight, almost sociological interest, then asks the boy, "Doesn't that bore you?" Followed by, almost to himself, "It's always the same story." Read more